The Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Epsona Harry Ayamga has commended Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) playing active roles by complementing government's efforts at providing jobs for people in the formal and informal sectors in the Municipality.
He praised the NGOs at a presentation ceremony in Bolgatanga where the Programme for Rural Integrated Development (PRIDE), a Non-Governmental Organization operating in Upper East and Northern Regions, presented 31 sewing machines and fitting kits to stabilized mentally ill and epileptic patients in the Upper East Region, to enable them to have vocational training.
The cost of the items, including expenses for their training amounted to GHC8,850.
He noted that the intervention of many NGOs in the Municipality and the Region had prevented a lot of the youth from moving to the southern sector in search of non-existent jobs and indicated that poverty in the region was very high with most families unable to feed themselves throughout the year.
He paid tribute to PRIDE for channeling its efforts and resources to equip mentally ill persons with various skills, including dressmaking, fitting, carpentry among others and presenting them with sewing machines and mechanical tools for the vocational training.
Mr Ayamga however said there were many NGOs in the Municipality who were operating illegally and had not registered with the Department of Social Welfare thereby making it difficult to monitor their activities.
He warned such NGOs that the Assembly would not hesitate to weed them out of the system.
He said the Assembly would soon embark on a demolition exercise of unapproved structures, which were a menace to proper planning of communities and urged people to desist from building on water ways to prevent flooding.
The Programme Coordinator of PRIDE in charge of Upper East Region, Mr Richard Adongo noted that mental illness was increasing in the Region and that it was against this background that his outfit was complementing Government's efforts in addressing the problem.